The sci-fi series was hailed as a dark, timely satire of office life—but its return is bogged down by abstract ethical conundrums and rote emotional ones.

Severance Season 2 premieres Jan. 17 on Apple TV+, with a new episode every week. Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness.

Lumon employees grapple with newfound information about their alter egos in Apple TV+’s striking, superlative series

The characters on "Severance" - at least, the "innie" versions of them - don't experience time like the rest of us. Innies exist only on a subterranean floor in the headquarters of Lumon Industries, a company that splits some employees' consciousness into a work self and a not-work self.

The three-year wait is over as Severance returns to Apple TV+ for its sophomore season later this month. While many shows would suffer from a long hiatus, Severance Season 2 is not one of those programs,